Page:Du Toit v Minister of Welfare.djvu/4

[4]⁠The applicants have lived together as life partners since 1989. They formalised their
relationship with a commitment ceremony, performed by a lay preacher in September 1990. To
all intents and purposes they live as a couple married in community of property; immovable
property is registered jointly in both their names; they pool their financial resources; they have a
joint will in terms of which the surviving partner of the relationship will inherit the other’s share
in the joint community; they are beneficiaries of each other’s insurance policies; and they take
all major life decisions jointly and on a consensual basis.

[5]⁠In 1994, the applicants approached the authorities of Cotlands Baby Centre,
Johannesburg (Cotlands) to be screened as prospective adoptive parents. They went through a
standard three-month process which involved their being screened and counselled together by
social workers as required by the Child Care Act which sets out the legal framework for
adoptions in South Africa.[1] The screening of the applicants included psychological testing, home
circumstance visits, extended family recommendations and a panel discussion. It was at all times
made clear during the screening process that the adopted children would be moving into a family
structured around a permanent lesbian life partnership. The suitability of both applicants to be
parents of the adoptive children was considered in the light of these circumstances.